For What It's Worth

Caleb was still sitting in his car an hour after he ended it with Chelsea, his head resting against the leather steering wheel.

He wasn't upset that he and Chelsea had broken up, he was just angry at himself. Angry that he still wasn't over Levi, that he couldn't have a decent relationship without thoughts of Levi, or imaging that the girl in his arms was Levi for a split second.

It was like a disease. Levi was a disease.
It didn't help that he was constantly around her.

He heard the elevator doors open, but didn't look up, just kept his head down on the steering wheel.

"Caleb?"
It was Marc's girlfriend, Bonnie.

"Hey Bon." Caleb said, shocking himself at the sound of his voice.
He sounded defeated, like someone had trampled on him and left him to die.

He sounded pathetic.

Bonnie sighed, and held up Caleb's car keys.
"Levi said that you would need these to roll your window down." Bonnie said as Caleb took the keys from her.

"Thanks." He mumbled, turning on the car. "I'll be up in a second, alright?"
Bonnie just stood there, and watched him roll the window up.

When Caleb got out of the car, Bonnie stopped him, leaving him sitting in the driver's seat, facing her.

"You need to move on Caleb." She said bluntly, crossing her arms. Caleb sighed, and looked at the ground.
As Marc claimed, Bonnie knew all, saw all, and solved all problems. But this was one problem she had yet to fix, and it was driving her nuts.

"She's in love. And if you love her, you'll let her go." She reached over, and rested a hand on his shoulder, making him glance up for a moment. Bonnie's voice was sincere, kind, and wise.

Caleb knew this was the only solution at this point, there was no way that Kyle and Levi were going to break up, they were a solid couple, loyal and honest to each other all the time.
And he knew that wouldn't change.

"I know." He said, his voice weak. Bonnie wanted to comfort her friend, but she didn't know how.
"I'm sorry Caleb." She whispered, giving him a hug.
He didn't hug her back, but he rested his head on her shoulder, and let her rub his back, trying to comfort him.

"We need to go upstairs." She said, still hugging him.
"Okay." Caleb replied robotically, Bonnie releasing him so that he could stand up.

They walked over to the elevator, and headed upstairs.
"You could stay with Marc and I if you wanted." She offered, still staring straight ahead at the elevator doors. "...I mean, in case you don't want to, you know.." She trailed off, leaving Caleb to sigh.

"I'll be okay." He said, staring at his feet.
That was a flat out lie. He knew he wouldn't get a wink of sleep knowing that Kyle and Levi were less than fifty feet away sleeping together.

"Alright. But the offer is still open if you change your mind." Bonnie said as the doors opened to their floor, the two exiting at the same time.

They walked down the hall to the apartment, and Bonnie knocked on the door.

"Its open!" Austin's voice yelled from inside.
Bonnie opened the door, and walked inside, Caleb following her in.

Levi was just walking out of the closet in the hall, a broom and dustpan in hand, and an angry look on her face.

"I can't believe you broke ten plates." She growled at Austin, who gave her a feeble smile, and a shrug of the shoulders, trying to shrink away from her. She shoved the broom and dustpan at him.
"Every. Last. Shard." She snapped, Austin groaning. "You break somthing everytime you come over, and I've been nice until now. Clean it." Levi turned away from him, and went to sit on the couch next to Kyle, who was chuckling at the face Austin had shot at Levi when she wasn't looking.

"Come on Austin, at least its not the jar of marinara sauce you dropped." Kyle said, draping an arm behind Levi's shoulder.
Austin mumbled somthing about it being an accident, and walked into the kitchen, sweeping up the glass.

Levi finally noticed Caleb, and smiled at him, a sad look in her eyes.
"Hey CareBear." She said, standing up again, her arms open wide. He took advantage of the situation, and hugged her tightly, letting her rock him back and forth.

"You okay?" She whispered over the shouting match Johnathan and Jason were having.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me, Poppy." He whispered back, letting her go. She smiled at him, and pulled him over to the couch, making him sit next to herself and Kyle.
He had paste on a smile before he frowned.

"You cheated!" Jason yelled, Johnathan looking at him like he was crazy.
"How do you cheat in Words With Friends?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows as Jason nearly threw a fit.
Obviously, he had lost the game.

"'Fap' isn't really a word!" Jason yelled, pointing a finger at Johnathan. Levi, Kyle, and Kent sniggered like children.

"Its slang, and it was allowed, so I win!" Johnathan sneered, leaning in towards Marc, who was now nearly pouting.

Jason gave up, and plopped back down into his seat, staring at the floor as Johnathan rubbed it in his face by doing a short celebration dance.

"Wow..." Kent said, rolling his eyes as he played with his own phone, sipping on a beer he had nabbed from the fridge.
It was around six o'clock by now, so it was okay with Levi and Kyle if the guys took a beer or two.

"So," Caleb mumbled, trying to at least act like he was entertained.
All eyes turned to him.
"Do we want to share the news?" He asked, raising up his hands. All of the FTSK boys looked at each other.
Austin stroked his beard.

Levi and Bonnie looked back and forth between the boys, then each other.
"...Well now you have to..." Levi muttered, inching towards Kyle.
He knew what she was about to do, and jumped up from the couch.

"I'LL NEVER TELL!" He screamed, running down the hall. Levi smirked, and jumped over the couch, chasing him.
"I'LL TICKLE IT OUT OF YOU!" She yelled, just before the bathroom door slammed.
"No you won't!" He yelled, a small laugh in his voice.

Levi walked back into the living room a few seconds later, an irritated look on her face.

She scanned the room, like a lioness choosing her prey, a fierce look on her face.

Her eyes landed on Johnathan, and his eyes went wide.

Before she even took the first step, he winced, and spilled all.
"WE'RE GOING ON WARPED TOUR THIS YEAR- PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" He yelled, all of his bandmates groaning.

"You puss!"
"What the hell man?"
"Goddamnit."
Kyle came out of the bathroom, a dissapointed look on his face.
He looked straight at Johnathan, and then flipped him off.

Levi and Bonnie looked at each other, and frowned, both slightly upset that their boyfriends didn't tell them that they would be gone all summer next year.
Levi looked at Kyle, a hurt look on her face.

"I've always told you when I'm doing a show." She said, her voice still strong. She wasn't like Bonnie, Bonnie always showed what she was feeling by the sound of her voice- somthing Levi rarely did.

But Kyle could tell she was a little bothered by the news, and upset that he hadn't told her.
They still hadn't figured out what they were going to do if they were on seperate tours, apart from each other for months at a time.
It didn't help that their relationship had been strained before while on tour together.

He opened his arms to her. "Come here." He said quietly.
Bonnie didn't take it has badly as Levi, seeing that she had dealt with the same situation with Marc before.
Levi hesistated, then climbed into Kyle's arms, holding him tight.

Both bands knew what the two were worried about, so they just let the two have their moment.

Blane cleared his throat, and nodded at Marc, who gave him a confused look.
Bonnie was fine, so he didn't see why he was trying to get his attention.

"When did you guys find this out?" Levi asked, making the two look away from each other, along with the rest of the group.
Austin shrugged, looking at Andrew and Aaron, who were both waiting for an answer.

"Last week?" He guessed, not quite sure.
Levi buried her face further into the crook of Kyle's neck, and he brought a hand up to her hair, smoothing and playing with it.

Caleb looked like he was in pain.

Zach and Jason exchanged a look of worry from the barstools behind Kyle and Levi.
They were worried that Levi was having second thoughts about the band, just like Blane, Aaron, and Andrew were.

Levi sat up, and they wiped the looks off of their faces.

"Well," She started, standing up, confusing Kyle.
Sometimes he swore she was bipolar.
"Congrats guys." She smiled, opening her arms to all of them, causing them to attack her with a group hug, Kyle getting there first, hugging her around the waist.

"Hey!" Jason shouted, making the group look towards him.
He was pouting.
"I want to be loved too." He pouted, making everyone laugh.

"Then join us!" Levi shouted from the center of the hug. Jason immidietly jumped off the barstool he was sitting on, and jumped over the couch, joining in on the hug.
The rest of the stragglers joined in, Bonnie standing back and watching the group of people she called her friends.
A Marc peeked out, and reached for his girlfriend, dragging her in the hug with a mischevious smile on his face, the girl laughing as soon as she saw him.

They stood there for a good minute or so, laughing and joking with each other.
"Okay! I need air!" Levi yelled, making the group break apart.
She leaned on her boyfriend, and he smiled, wrapping an arm around her.

"Drinks?" Levi asked, looking up at him. He nodded, and went to the kitchen, getting a beer for everyone.

------

It was close to one am when everyone finally left, excluding Caleb.
He had decided to take up Levi's offer of staying overnight, and was sleeping on the air matress in Kyle and Levi's minature studio.

He looked around the room from the matress, a blank look on his face.
He spotted the guitar that Levi had owned when she first met them, freshly polished and cleaned, the strings newly tuned.
It was odd to be in this room, seeing that he was rarely in there when he was hanging out with Kyle and Levi in their apartment.

He didn't even know that they had recording equiptment in their apartment.

Caleb turned over on the bed, and looked over Kyle's drumset and Levi's electric piano.
Both Kyle and Levi had their own areas in the room, nearly divided half and half.

Kyle got the side of the room closest to the windows, a desk with papers strewn about and a laptop laying on top of it. It looked as if he had been writing some more, possibly designing some shirts.

Levi's side of the room was more insturmental, with a beanbag in the corner instead of a desk, a notebook lying on top of it, with a Macbook similar to Kyle's on a small table to the right of it.

It was a cozy little setup, and he wondered when they had set it up, because this room used to be a guesroom- that happened to be where Kyle kept his practice drum set.

It was now two thirty in the moring, and Kyle and Levi had gone to bed, both sleeping peacfully in the room next to him, when he heard Wonka meowing outside his door.
Caleb eyed the door for a moment, before even considering opening it and letting him in.
He decided not too, seeing that Wonka loved to take up half the bed whenever he slept with Caleb.
He didn't do that to anyone else, just Caleb.

"Shh, be quiet!"
Caleb's was listening closely now, eyeing the door from his pillow.
But when he heard the door opening, he shut his eyes, like a child that wasn't supposed to be awake.

He heard Levi come into the room, gently closing the door behind her before Wonka could slip inside.
The cat meowed loudly, as if trying to warn Caleb.

He listened carefully to Levi's footsteps.
She was in her corner of the room, looking for somthing based on the rustling sounds she was making.

"Its got to be here somewhere..." She muttered so quietly that Caleb barely heard it.
"Yes!" She said loudly, clapping a hand over her mouth when she did.

Caleb bit his tongue, keeping himself from laughing.

She was unfolding a peice of paper rather hurriedly, probably trying to get out of the room before she 'woke up' Caleb.

A few minutes later, she folded it back up, and placed it wherever it had been.
Caleb remained 'asleep' when she headed back towards the door.
The knob turned, but she didn't open the door.

She sighed, and released the door knob, turning around and walking towards Caleb.
He kept calm, and stayed still.

Levi stroked his hair, and gently placed a hand on his face, staring at her sleeping friend.
"I'm sorry Caleb." She whispered, her voice surprisingly close. "But you deserved better anyway, you'll find her, one day."

He wanted to open his eyes and tell her he had, that he had found the perfect girl, but that perfect girl he wanted so badly was already dating his best friend. She was untouchable, and madly in love with someone else. He wanted to tell her that perfect girl was her, it was her all along.

She smoothed his hair again, and stood, leaving the room in complete silence after she left.

Caleb shot up, sitting up, wanting to slap himself for being such an idiot, not waking up and just telling her.

No, you have to move on. You have to move on Caleb. He though, feeling as if he was losing his mind.

And it was all Levi's fault.